Little Bit of Fishing, Little Bit of Farming

This last week has been a bit hectic, I traveled down to North Texas to help take care of my mom.  My sister has been taking care/watching her, but needed to go out of town for her work.   I hadn’t mentioned it before in posts, but our Mom had surgery a week after my Dad passed away.  She’s been recovering from this surgery and dealing with slight complications.  I ended up staying in Texas through Friday afternoon, when my sister returned from her business trip. 

I have to say, Mom seems to be recovering quite well.     In fact, one night Mom and I were able to go out to eat, and enjoy a nice steak dinner together.  Get this…..she drove to the restaurant!!!  This is a really good sign toward her recovery.  We’re giving Mom a big shout out……………..Love you Mom!!!

Mom of course sent me home with a sweet gift; it was one of those Ninja blenders.  Talk about perfect timing, my blender is a true piece of $%*&@ and I was going to look for a new one.  Now I don’t have too :-)

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This weekend, Bulldog Man and I woke early on Saturday to go fishing.  We were up at the pond at 6:20AM, the temperature was in the low 30’s and the breeze was downright cold.  Everyone fishing off the embankments had hard hits on their lines, but didn’t catch one fish.  Bulldog Man and I decided to pack it up after staying 3 hours. 

Because we were fishing not too far from Oklahoma State University, we decided to visit the Farmers Market, sponsored and held at the University.  All items sold at the market are Oklahoma made, grown, or raised.  The University adheres to a strictly “Oklahoma Only” market. 

Items the farmers would bring into this market; meats, cheeses, dairy items, herbs (fresh and dried), vegetables (dried, fresh, and still in dirt), crocheted and knitted items, tinctures, lotions, soaps, leather products, homemade bakery items, and handmade books.

Bulldog Man and I picked up a few things and supported a few of our local farmers.  Fresh milk, eggs, cheese, asparagus, tomato, honey, spices and berries (dried), a solid lotion bar, some potted broccoli, and dish cloths. 

 

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I have a new sign spring is around the corner; new leaves on a rose bush outside our bathroom window.

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How was your weekend? 

Rain Dance - Farmers Market - Salsa - Watermelon - Give-Away

Picture by favim.com

L The rain is all around us…….not over us!!!   Kymber, you need to start dancing girlfriend!!!!! Bahahahaha!!!!!      

In town, the Farmers’ Market is usually up and running on Wednesdays and Saturdays in this small town.  I decided to hop in the truck and drive on over to see what’s new and available from the local farmers. 

I picked up some beautiful peaches and plan on making a homemade peach cobbler later this week. I will post the recipe and pictures when I make it.  Bulldog Man loves cobbler…..peach, blackberry, cherry….it doesn’t matter.  Shoot, just hurry up and make the cobbler.  One of the farmers had baby yellow neck squash that looked great, so I picked up a couple of pounds.  I found some tomatoes, jalapenos and a couple of onions.  I picked up enough to make a few pints of salsa. I even used several of the green peppers from my garden.

Since I don’t have a good recipe on hand for salsa, I borrowed Robin’s recipe from The Garden of Eden blog.  Please checkout this recipe http://cordarogarden.blogspot.com/2010/07/canning-salsa-recipe.html, it’s delicious and makes exactly 3 pints. I did modified the recipe by adding 1/2 cup of cilantro.

On the way back from the Farmers’ Market, I stopped by this building along side of the roadway that had a water wheel and decided to take a picture and share it with you.  The place is amazing, it’s so relaxing; it makes you want to get out of your vehicle and walk around the water and wooded area on the property.  There was one thing that stopped me from doing just that. It was a sign that stated “No Trespassing”.

There is one thing I love on these hot days and nights, it’s ice cold, naturally sweet watermelon. This year, I did not plant watermelon in my garden and that’s because the watermelon we planted last year just didn’t do good.  So we went on a mission to find a good watermelon that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to purchase.  Over the weekend, Bulldog Man and I went to Wal-Mart and came across watermelons from Texas.  We took a chance and bought one.  The price was reasonable, compared to previous years.  I washed the watermelon down and placed it in the refrigerator for two days and then sliced that baby.  OMG…….talk about sweet and ice cold. I would share with ya’ll but you’re just too darn far away.  So to be nice, I’ve taken a few pictures for you to enjoy.  I can’t seem to find away to make the pictures smell delicious like the actual melon, (Evil Grin!).  You know like scratch and sniff…….LOL.



Remember to register for the Hand Crack Apple Peeler Give-Away.  There’s only two days left to register.

What are you doing to keep yourself cool from this heat?